Reviewed by Jennifer Rummel for TeensReadToo.com

LONDON CALLING opens with a fight at school between the rich boys and the scholarship boys. A stone hits one of the statues in the new walkway causing damage. The commotion from the fight catches the attention of the headmaster who decides that he will determine the punishment at the end of the summer vacation. Martin dreads going back for this meeting. He hates the school so much that he requests to have independent studies for the entire new school year.

His grandmother dies, leaving him this old radio from the 1940's. One night, Martin falls asleep listening to the sounds on the radio and is transported back to the 1940's in London during World War II. There he meets Jimmy, a young boy, who asks for his help.

England during the wartime scares Martin and he can't tell if he's dreaming or if he's really traveled through time. He begins writing down names of people he meets and events that he hears mentioned to research later. Digging deeper into the past, he begins to unravel historical differences between today's understanding of history and the actual events. Martin realizes how history changes--with the victor's side writing the accounts of the events. The deeper he digs, the more truths he uncovers, and the more the radio calls him to help Jimmy.

This fascinating book takes a look at how historical moments and figures are shaped by the outcome of an event. While this books starts off slowly, it quickly picks up, drawing the reader deeper into Martin's time-travel adventures. LONDON CALLING will be a thought-provoking book for classroom discussions. ( )

Seventh-grader Martin Conway believes that his life is monotonous and dull until the night the antique radio he uses as a night-light transports him to the bombing of London in 1940. ( )

I finished this book fairly quickly after starting it. Although the initial chapter confused me somewhat, the book picked up and I really enjoyed the characterizations and the story itself which combined the fun of time travel and historical fiction within the European (specifically British) theatre of World War II which is admittedly one of the more fascinating periods of recent history in my opinion. ( )

John Martin Conway feels out of place at his exclusive prep school where the founder's great grandson torments other students. John is expelled after a fight and works at home on an independent study project. He is given a World War II-era radio by his grandmother which brings him in contact with Jimmy, a boy who lived during the London Blitz and needs John's help. Using magical realism Bloor enfolds a tale of justice and redemption.

Edward Bloor's London Calling is a sweet YA read featuring the young John Martin Conway. Martin is stuck attending the private school where his mom works in order to give him the best of educational opportunity, but he'd just as soon go to public school rather than dealing with the rich, entitled jerks that terrorize him at All Souls Prep. The toxic atmosphere for a "scholarship" kid at All Souls combined with the death of his grandmother with whom he seemed to share a special spiritual connection are the straws that break the camel's back. Martin adamantly refuses to return to All Souls and resigns himself to residing in his basement bedroom after an embarassing altercation with Hank Lowery, grandson of General Henry "Hollerin' Hank" Lowery, a somewhat ambiguous figure of World War II whose family has done whatever could be done to cement his good, if possibly false, reputation.

Martin's existence in his basement bedroom is dismal and unlike living at all, that is, until the old fashioned radio he inherited from his grandmother begins to transport him back in time to London during the Blitz. There he meets Jimmy Harker who is determined to convince Martin to do "his bit." Whatever "bit" that might be, it's up to Martin to discover. Soon Martin finds himself doing extensive research to discover whether his encounters with Jimmy are, in fact, based in fact, or if he has begun to have elaborate historical dreams. In the process, Martin begins to live and enjoy life again, repair family ties, and even discover what he can do to help Jimmy even from the distant future. What emerges is a page-turner of a time travel story, a sweet coming of age story, and a good lesson about the significance of family ties and the importance of "doing your bit" to make a difference in the lives around you. ( )